


Clean of Human Noise

by SilverCeleb



Category: Stand Still Stay Silent
Genre: As in everyone starts their military training very young and it's considered normal, Character Study, Child Soldiers, Forests, Gen, Keuruu, Military Backstory, Military Training, No Romance, SSSS Secret Santa 2019, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-16
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:08:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23682907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverCeleb/pseuds/SilverCeleb
Summary: They press on. Forest is silent around them, until one is silent themselves. Snow creaks, whispers, scrapes, laughs, talks under the wooden skis.Lalli could breathe in the entire world.My part of SSSSecretSSSSanta 2019
Comments: 4
Kudos: 13





	Clean of Human Noise

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LooNEY_DAC](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LooNEY_DAC/gifts).



> This was my Secret Santa gift to LooNEY_DAC that I forgot to post here. Well at least I did remember to send it to the forum!
> 
> Some of this is written based on my own very first training exercise of night scouting, good times. I really loved it, but then military wasn't for me so it's also in the past now.

_Before it got too dark_  
  


Keuruu had stupid, unnecessary traditions and rules about everything. Things like no breakfast food are served after nine am, or how all the doors have to face the main road. Military is full of those rules too.  
  
Lalli is old enough when he enters the scout training, and skilled in what he does, taught by their grandma. He knows how to run silently in the forest, what berries to pick and what to avoid, how to light a fire. He knows how to shoot, how to use his knife to clean a vermin beast, and when one absolutely has to avoid contact at all costs.  
  
Keuruu doesn’t care. Lalli is finally eleven, and he can start his training officially. He has to work in a group of three other trainees until they are either trustworthy enough to be left alone, or fifteen years old. He has two other newbies in his team who have very little real experience of Silent World.  
  
They have worked together for two months when they are assigned their first mission. A training mission, but a mission. Lalli thinks about Juhani’s way of getting confused with spoken orders and Kati’s confession that she has never been outside of Keuruu before her training began.  
  
Lalli thinks about it. It’s still two hours until it gets really dark, and their orders clearly state they won’t start before the sun is down. This would be easier alone, he suspects, but maybe he can try.  
  


_What is expected_  
  


He takes a nap.  
  
It's is going to be the very basic kind of surveillance and area intelligence gathering. They have to get all the specs they can from the location marked on the map, but it still has to be relevant. There can be no talking, no light sources, no eating or joking. Discipline is both needed and enforced.  
  
It is a low risk area, so they get away with wearing light gear. They have their personal puukko's and rifles, winter uniforms and skis. They are expected to be back sometime before sunrise, and to present all their reports to their superiors at 0900 sharp.  
  
"I don't care how long you spend on the scouting mission, it's the quality of your work that counts", their superior had said.  
  


_Forest is the same_  
  


They start making their way by moonlight. Air is crispy with frost, it's a very clear night. Snow is still knee high in March, but sunny days have melted the surface enough that it freezes to carry their weight at night. Kantohanki helps them move faster, and they are soon beyond the populated areas, beyond the walls and gates.  
  
Lalli has read the map before, seen the red markings on the paper that say there should be a pathway here. Kati thinks they should go back, because they can't find the path from underneath the snow. It is a summer path anyways.  
  
Juhani whispers that they can't go back, and Lalli agrees. He nods. They will be fine, he won't fail because of some dumb and dusty old map. The location is less than ten kilometers from their base, so thy can easily navigate by distance and direction, some few major landmarks and still have enough time to cover a significant area.  
  
They press on. Forest is silent around them, until one is silent themselves. Snow creaks, whispers, scrapes, laughs, talks under the wooden skis. The frost lies for it's prey with silent patience, breaking only for a sudden attack that crack through the forest. Sky is so clear. The moon is rising still, and the stars are very bright.  
  
Lalli could breathe in the entire world.  
  


_Work must be done_  
  


By Lalli's estimate they have reached the destination on time. A few hand signs later they separate into three one person units to comb through the area. Lalli takes the outer edges. Kati is worried she won't find her way back. It's stupid, the area is smaller than Lalli's home island at Saimaa.  
  
It's not the first time he has stared into empty forest at night. It's not the first time the forest stares back at him. He makes his round efficiently, noting down the shapes of hills, possible rock formation, sight-lines, terrain type, the state of plant life, distances, safe spaces, signs of any and all activity. It's not hard, but it takes some thinking.  
  
He runs into Juhani a bit later. They still have a few minutes to wait for Kati, and Lalli uses those to go over some of the terrain Juhani already covered. The other boy tags along, but he is not chatty so Lalli let's him be.  
  
Time runs out, Kati doesn't come back to their meeting point.

  
_Perks of training_  
  


Lalli later finds out that their trainer had been watching them from the nearby hill. It is mandatory to send a supervising adult on any first missions. There really is very little chance for accidents or errors of the fatal kind to happen.  
  
Juhani wants to go looking for Kati. Lalli is annoyed, he doesn't like being late and it is just like Kati to get lost in an easy location such as this. He now knows that he should have been the only one to go alone. If Juhani and Kati had stayed together, Juhani would have kept track of both time and their surroundings.  
  
Lalli gives in when Juhani raises his voice and calls out to Kati. The forest remains blessedly calm. Lalli considers sending a whispered prayer to Tapio, but decides against it. Kati is not going to die from getting lost in a low risk area like this.  
  
Juhani calls again. He finally hears an answer this time. Lalli agrees to wait while Juhani goes to get Kati, and he stays frozen on the spot. It is very cold but he is comfortable. A real mission would be a fail.  
  
This is training, one mistake doesn't matter here, they will get a passing grade. But it matters to him.  
  


_Snow on your mittens_  
  


They make it back on time. Even Kati can keep up the speed needed to make up for the time they lost looking for her. Juhani is in a good mood. Sunrise is slowly turning the forest into a series of grey-blue-white trees and branches covered in snow.  
  
Lalli doesn't feel tired, but he is not happy either. He just is. Forest has wiped him clean from human noise.


End file.
